Marketing Technology Diary

Wednesday, 3 February 2010

Here's the thing. People won't buy the iPad to read books, they'll buy books because they bought the iPad.

Remember when the very first first iPod launched back in 2001?
At that time I was working with 20 of the most hyper loyal Mac enthusiasts you can imagine. We were all huge Apple fans. Of course we were thrilled by the iPod launch. Or were we?

Just like with the iPad now, media were not entirely sure who the iPod was for and what problem it actually solved. Remember that File Sharing wasn't on everyone's tongue at that time. Also bear in mind that iTunes Music Store launched a year or so after the release of the iPod. To use the iPod you actually had to rip your CDs, and who wanted to do that?

I was not just media that had their doubts. Out of my 20 hyper loyal Mac enthusiasts only two of us ended up buying the iPod. The others decided to wait. Then something happened and it was not only the rest of my colleagues that decided to invest in their very own iPod. You know how the story continues. Now, Apple have sold more than 200 million iPods

So what exactly did happen? Well it's Apple and Apple's great at marketing. It didn't take long before celebrities started using the iPod. Everywhere you turned there were iPod Ads. Product placement where ever you turned your head. Thanks to those little white ear plugs you could immediately spot people who were listening to an iPod. What happened was that demand for the iPod surged. It became a hype. People started buying iPods, and because they bought iPods they started ripping their CD's and eventually they started buying songs and albums on sites like iTunes Music Store. It was the iPod that drove the demand for digital music - not the other way around.

I predict we'll see the same with it iPad. People will buy the iPad because it's such a great product.
You and I will buy it, and because we have our iPad we will begin to change the things we do everyday. We'll start reading books, magazines, blogs on the iPad. We'll discover that browsing at our photos on the iPad much more resembles they way we used to browse our old photo albums. No more fight for who's in charge of the mouse/track pad.

Soon we'll forget how we used to use the computer to do these things. Just the same as we have forgotten what it was like to search for a CD in our collection, put it into the CD player and press play. Not to mention how it was to operate those CD changers...

I really believe the iPad will drive change. Don't just limit this change to your personal life. Think about all those books students ar forced to buy. Think about what it could do for sales reps making presentations. Think about what it could do for gaming. Think about what this could mean for the software industry? Who will ask for a Desktop Application in the future? Perhaps we won't even ask for web applications? I already think Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are better experienced via my iPhone apps than via the web. I for one, will start start waving bye, bye to the File meny, Trash Can and even the Finder/Explorer.

Just one last thing. The iPad won't save anyone. The iPod didn't save the Record Labels so why should the iPad save Publishing or the Newspapers? Sure, people will start to buy digital content but from where, or from who? That is the question.

Monday, 1 February 2010

Last week I downloaded Foursquare to my iPhone and unlocked the Newbie badge.

Haven't heard of Foursquare before? The following text is from their web site:

”Foursquare is a cross between a friend-finder, a social city-guide and a game that rewards you for doing interesting things.”

Basically you launch the application on your iPhone, wait a little while... and then Foursquare finds your location and displays available places near your location. This could be restaurants, a coffeeshop, someone's office etc. In short places other users have created and visited.

If the location you are at is listed you can check in, earn points, view tips and see who else is checked in to the same place – or create a new place. By checking in you tell your friends where they can find you. As you start checking in to more and more places you will earn points and unlock badges, and here's the twist:

”We all have our local hangouts and foursquare keeps tabs on who's the most loyal of all the regulars. If you've been to a place more than anyone else, you'll become 'the mayor'... until someone else comes along and steals your title.”

You might ask why this is relevant. How is this related to me?

Well, I'd say it doesn't really matter whether you're the owner of a small coffeeshop or whether you are in charge of the Customer Loyalty Program for your business. I bet you would like to know when the Mayor of Foursquare checks in to your place, right?

The question is what you are going to do about it. After all the Mayor is the most loyal of all the regulars. Wouldn't you like to honor that somehow? When I become the mayor of my regular coffeeshop, I would really appreciate to be offered something. Perhaps a double espresso for the price of a regular?

One of many
Foursquare is just the tip of the iceberg. I mention it only to illustrate a new trend. Mobility will be huge thanks to smart phones, but smart phones also include GPS chips which means that a smart phone knows where you are. This in turn means that applications like Foursquare knows where you are and can act accordingly. In short they are Location Aware.

This is called Locations Based Services.

If you, like I am, are interested in new technology and how it relates to marketing you should be thrilled about this. This is a technology that allows you to communicate with your customers when they're at, or near, your location. Think - Direct a personalized message to your customer. Just in time, just in place.

As I said Foursquare is just one of many. There are many more. You should definitely keep an eye on the big ones – Facebook, Twitter, Google etc. Twitter recently introduced location aware tweets. Google knows where you are - at least in the US.

Available options
How do you take advantage of this?
Using the Foursquare and the coffeeshop example above, I'd say it's as easy as just posting a sign at the cashier. ”If you're the mayor, show your phone and you'll get a free...” something.

You can also take it one step further. Here's an article describing what a Canadian Newspaper did together with Foursquare. Very interesting indeed.

Of course, you could also go all the way and develop your very own app. I'd love to see location aware apps put an end to all those plastic cards that keep fighting for my wallet space. All those cards that proves that I'm enrolled in the Loyalty Program. Imagine if apps could replace all those cards?

Of course the loyalty program cards serve another purpose. They're commonly used to track the amount of money you spend. How much money you spend is of course key, but imagine combining that information with information of how often, and when, a customer actually visits one of your locations? I bet you can think of many ways you could leverage that, right? Think, your Loyalty Program growing Location Aware.

And, don't forget. Customers who use these services also spreads the word to her/his friends. Think, your Loyalty Program going Viral.

What you think? Does this give you any exciting new ideas?

/Johan

PS. If you'd like to read more on this I include a few links to interesting articles:

Tuesday, 26 January 2010

I've come to realize that that must be the case. Yes, I most definitely am a Premedia Consultant.

It all makes sense. At least if I tell you a little story. My story.

A long long time ago I started my career as a Desktop Publishing Specialist. In those days it was all about text, fonts and typesetters - and, of course laser printers.

Then the technology made it possible to work with digital images. At first only black & white, but soon also color images. It didn't take long before my work description included everything but the actual printing process. I remember folding little paper sheets and struggling configuring the imposition software while the spectrophotometer was busy reading the latest test print.

Anyway. The term Desktop Publishing began to fade and was soon replaced by the term Prepress. Prepress referred to all the processes that occur between creation of a layout and final printing.

You may wonder why I write about Prepress in the past tense? That's because Prepress, to me, is as dead as Desktop Publishing. In fact, it has been for quite a while. That's why I'm really excited about the emerging talk about Premedia. It sort of fills the vacuum that the fading of Desktop Publishing and Prepress created.

Premedia is really simple. If you don't know what Premedia is, just tell yourself it's just like Prepress but for any media - not just printed media. Wikipedia has a definition of Premedia if you want all details.

The reason I'm excited by Premedia is of course that it extends the legacy of the craft that used to be my occupation. A craft that I was born and raised into. But, there's also another reason and that is because the objective of Premedia fits prefectly into today's marketing landscape. Take a look at this quote from Wikipedia's definition of Premedia:

”The ultimate objective and overall advantage of Pre-media is that assets and processes should not be designed to suit a particular media output - instead they will need to be ‘media neutral’ right up until the last moment, just before the communication is rendered for output.”

So, there you have it. I am a Premedia Consultant... well almost anyway.

I actually make my living as a Marketing Operations Management consultant and that's something different. Something that I might cover in separate post later on. I do, however have to admit that a lot of the work I do is in fact more related to Premedia than to Marketing Operations.

You know were I'm going with this, no? The point is that, if I'm having a hard time deciding what to call myself maybe you have too?

We're living in a time of change. Big changes are happening within Marketing and Media. Changes that have impact on work descriptions as well as on work positions and titles. I think we'll have to live with this confusion for some time still, but a few years from now I'm hoping that I can add Premedia Consultant as another chapter to my story.

So, what do you think? What's your story?
Do you agree with me that Prepress as a term is dead? Is Premedia the term you use to describe your business/work/title? Love to hear your thoughts.

Monday, 11 January 2010

”Those who have a stake in Social Media would gain much greater benefit thinking seriously about how they can improve and extend existing marketing campaigns rather than casting aspersions on what other media contribute.”

I agree with Greg.

One particular area Social Media can extend really well is Event Marketing. When it comes to events Social Media really excels. It can be used to both promote the event as well as add value to the actual event when it takes place. It can even add value after the event.

I predict we will see more Event Marketing, and it appears I'm not alone.

”The opportunity is obvious: Anyone involved with anything that helps people get and stay in touch, that gets people from A-Z, or that accommodates those people before, during or after meeting-up with others, should not only rejoice in MASS MINGLING, but make it even easier for customers to meet up in any possible way, too.”

”With the increasing availability and quality of location-based filtering for the realtime web, it will become more and more valuable for individual users to be on the scene of events, to be an eyewitness instead of just repeating reports from others. Photos and video will become an increasingly important part of the reporting, in order for individuals to back up their accounts of what is going on, right now, right there.

The value created by this development will foremost be leveraged by event organizers and publishers covering events and news.”

There are many more similar predictions. More or less they all say the same - that there's value in creating events where people meet. Value for customers as well as for the one organizing the event. Social Media will be a key driver towards more organized Events.

And, if you are the organizer of the event it might also help you score higher on Search Engines now that they have started to include Real Time results.

What does all this mean? Well, it means you should start thinking about if, and how, you can include events in your traditional marketing campaigns. Here are a few examples.

Launching a new product? Instead of just advertising, consider organizing an event where customers can meet, get a first look and an opportunity to discuss the product.

Advertising a Sale? Consider organizing an exclusive in-store event instead. Use both traditional advertising and Social Media to promote the event, but direct a different (better) offer via Social Media.

Starting your own publication to establish yourself as a Thought Leader in a certain area? Consider also organizing an event. Use Social Media to Crowdsource planning of the event.

Wednesday, 16 December 2009

In my last blog post I wrote about the need to change from project oriented to process oriented work. Marketing Interactions just posted a blog entry with great advice of what you actually should be producing while working process oriented.

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About Me

Born and raised into the printing industry. Moved into IT, studied marketing. Now working as a consultant helping marketers and creative professionals become more efficient. Marketing Operations Management consultant, Solutions Architect and curious!